Read and pray: "Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he entered into his house (now in his upper chamber he had windows open toward Jerusalem); and he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime." (Dan. 6:10)
On the one hand, we need to see the building up of the church; on the other hand, we need to see the main frustration to the building up: the lack of the proper ground of the church.
When the saints in Jerusalem were built up, they became the church in Jerusalem. Similarly, the saints in Ephesus were built up as the church in Ephesus. However, the ground of the church is a serious problem today. In Taipei there are Baptist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, and other churches. Taipei has become a city of many churches.
We need to build up the church and pay attention to its ground. Brother T. Austin-Sparks thinks that the measure of the stature of Christ should be our criterion; that is, we should be able to join any group that has more of Christ.
The Catholic Church accepts the Bible, acknowledges the Trinity, and confesses that Christ Jesus is the Son of God, born of the virgin Mary, was crucified, shed His blood for our redemption, rose from the dead, and ascended to the heavens. All these items are included in the orthodox faith of Catholicism.
Some believers in Catholicism are more devout than many of us. Should we then join them because they have Christ? Or should we go to another group that has even more of Christ? What standard should we use to determine how much of Christ exists in each group?
A brother from the West who had been influenced by Brother Austin-Sparks asked why we say that only we are the church and others are not. He also questioned the local administration of the church. I shared three points with him:
- We believe that the church is one in the universe.
- We believe that the expression of the church in every city should also be one. The cities of Jerusalem, Antioch, and Corinth had a single expression, one church.
- We believe that any ground other than the local ground is sectarian and therefore should not exist.
Brother Austin-Sparks does not agree with the ground of the church. He also condemns institutionalized Christianity. When he was sharing with us, someone asked, “If there are five independent groups in a city that have left institutional Christianity, is one of them right or are all of them wrong?” Brother Austin-Sparks replied that none of the groups would be absolutely right, but all would be relatively right.
When asked what he meant by relatively right, he answered, “Each group should be evaluated according to the measure of the stature of Christ. The group that has a greater measure of the stature of Christ is more right; the group that has less of the stature of Christ is less right.”
I was the interpreter at that time, but at this point I joined the discussion. I asked whether there was any measure of Christ in Catholicism. Then I said that we had received help from Madame Guyon on the matter of life, and she definitely had a certain measure of the stature of Christ, but Madame Guyon was in Catholicism, which we condemn.
We need to be clear about the fact that spirituality and the ground of the church are distinct matters. Madame Guyon was spiritual, yet she was not right regarding the ground of the church. Dr. F. B. Meyer is highly recommended by Brother Austin-Sparks, yet he never left institutional Christianity, which Brother Austin-Sparks himself condemns.
Based on Dr. Meyer’s spirituality and measure of Christ, should we say that institutional Christianity is relatively right? Andrew Murray is another spiritual giant who remained in institutional Christianity. Therefore, we cannot determine the ground of the church by someone’s degree of spirituality.
God desired that His people remain in the land of Israel and have Jerusalem as the center of their worship to Him. Jerusalem was the ground for the worship of God. After remaining in captivity in Babylon for seventy years, they received the call to return to Jerusalem.
What would have happened if a prophet had arisen at that time and said that it didn’t matter whether they returned to Jerusalem or stayed in Babylon, because all that mattered was their spiritual stature?
Daniel was the most spiritual among them. In New Testament terms, Daniel was full of Christ; yet this man, full of Christ and spiritual, remained in Babylon. Those who returned to Jerusalem were not as spiritual as Daniel. They had their opinions and weaknesses, and some even married Gentile women. Their spiritual condition was much lower than Daniel’s. But which ground was right: Daniel’s, or that of the weak ones who were not so spiritual?
This shows that being spiritual is one thing, and having the proper ground of the church is another. A person may be very spiritual and still be on the wrong ground. The fact that Daniel was on the wrong ground was due to God’s sovereign plan and not his own will. Although he was in Babylon, his heart was in Jerusalem.
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